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Sorry for the ignorance, but how do we define "bass tuba?" I understand that in Britain, Euphoniums are "tenor tubas." So is anything tuba-in-nature and not a euphonium a "bass tuba?"

Thanks

From what I've learned on this forum so far, a tuba in F or Eb is considered a "bass" tuba, and a tuba in CC or BBb is considered a "contrabass" tuba.

Ah, yeah. That makes sense. I forgot about the "contrabass" category.

Thanks,

The word Tuba merely comes from the Latin "tuba" which means Trumpet or horn. The word before is merely classifying the octave. Tenor Tuba (or Euphonium, even though an actual tenor tuba is different) is in the range of a tenor and Bass tuba is thusly in the bass octave. Contrabass is in the contrabass octave. Obviously the ranges aren't strictly adherent to the said range, but based on the "sweet" range.

Well I guess I assumed this may be known since these octave names are common musical terminology....
Actually, I miswrote when I said OCTAVE names...I meant range.


But anyways,

tenor range mostly being C3 - C5
Bass being - E2 - C4
Contrabass being an octave below the bass

These are debateable I'm sure, but in relating to the original post, anything not a tenor tuba is not always a bass tuba since those are just pitch classifications. Such as the contrabass. (though obviously there is still more to that...such as timbre differences, etc).

My little tangent wasnt directly related to the post....more of a nice little tangent..

justinbarleben wrote:From what I've learned on this forum so far, a tuba in F or Eb is considered a "bass" tuba, and a tuba in CC or BBb is considered a "contrabass" tuba.

This is dead-on. 'nuff said.

jonesbrass wrote:

justinbarleben wrote:From what I've learned on this forum so far, a tuba in F or Eb is considered a "bass" tuba, and a tuba in CC or BBb is considered a "contrabass" tuba.

This is dead-on. 'nuff said.

what about the other kind of tubas???!!!!!!!!

Wagner tubas are more related to french horns, with their bore profile and the type of mouthpiece used. Check the french horn forums for discussions pertaining thereto.

Pop Korn wrote:Does anyone know how wide a bore can an EEb take and still play in tune. The old USA (Conn Holton etc\) EEb's seem to have a huge bore compared to the British polite version.

I've never met anybody who had glowing words for the intonation of the old Monster Eb Basses. But the bells do quite nicely on CC tuba conversions, I'm given to understand (the Getzen G-50 and the Conn 5xJ/King 2341 being examples of same).

On the general subject: There is no official terminology. The words mean things only because most readers know what they mean. Therefore, the instruments define the words and not the other way around. Most people use tenor tuba to describe something in the euphonium range (or to describe a euphonium itself), bass tuba to describe Eb and F tubas, and contrabass tuba to describe Bb and C tubas. Wagner was consistent with that usage, but he didn't write the dictionary, either.

The only official word is Basstuba, which was the name given to the F tuba invented by Wieprecht and Moritz when they were issued a Prussian patent in 1836.

Rick "noting that the burden of communication is on the author" Denney

Rick Denney wrote:

Pop Korn wrote: Rick "noting that the burden of communication is on the author" Denney

Could you clarify???